Florida voters, especially women, like Gov. Rick Scott more as a person, but all voters still
disapprove 50 - 37 percent of the job he's doing, in a Quinnipiac University poll released today,
compared to a 52 - 35 percent disapproval August 5 and a 57 - 29 percent disapproval May 25.

Asked if they like the governor as a person, no matter how they feel about his policies,
voters split 37 - 37 percent, compared to a 45 - 34 percent dislike in the August 5 survey by the
independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.

And, Florida voters now say 48 - 41 percent that Scott's budget is unfair to people like
them, an improvement from August when they said "unfair" 51 - 33 percent and May when they
said "unfair" 54 - 29 percent.

"Gov. Rick Scott has been trying to put on a charm offensive - both in changing how he
deals with the news media and spending more time meeting ordinary Floridians from around the
state. It appears to be working, at least a little," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the
Quinnipiac University Polling institute.

"During his first six months in office Gov. Scott alienated the news media and did not
make the effort to explain his program to the general public, as he has been doing recently."

"Although Scott's approval ratings remain underwater, voters like him more as a person,"
Brown added.

"The governor has improved, not surprisingly, among Republicans, but in addition to
solidifying his base, the governor is better off among women, who dislike him a little less.

"Gov. Scott certainly has a long way to go till he can see the breakeven point, but his
ratings that dropped to awful are now just bad. It is reasonable to assume that his improvement
is an endorsement of his new outreach strategy."

While voters split down the middle on Scott's personal rating, they say they don't like his
policies by 53 - 35 percent. By 53 - 36 percent they say they do not approve of his handling of
the state budget.

"The improvement in Gov. Scott's ratings on the fairness of his budget is a key to his
improvement," said Brown. "Voters don't like politicians they see as being unfair, especially
when it comes to cutting programs for people. Politicians who can convince voters they are being
fair on budget issues gain a leg up with the electorate."

Florida voters support 71 - 27 percent a law requiring welfare recipients to pass drug
tests. There are substantial partisan disagreements, but no gender gap.

"Voters overwhelmingly like the requirement that welfare recipients must pass drug tests
to receive benefits. But the issue is now before the courts where the only opinion that matters is
that of the judge," Brown said.

From September 14 - 19, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,007 registered voters with a
margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia
and the nation as a public service and for research.
For more data or RSS feed- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or
follow us on Twitter.

7. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Rick Scott is handling his job as Governor?